


Let's go kill our Neigh8or!

by quartzandmelody



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Discussion of CSA, F/F, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Humanstuck, Murder, Road Trip, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Violence, discussion of abuse, theyre both trans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:40:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22945681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quartzandmelody/pseuds/quartzandmelody
Summary: Vriska invites Kanaya on what she thinks will be a pleasant road trip filled with nostalgia and catching up with an old friend. When they arrive in their home town, however, Vriska has more sinister plans. She wants to kill their former neighbor, Doc Scratch, who groomed and abused them both as children. Though understanding of her desire to do so, Kanaya wants no part in this. But she may not have a choice.
Relationships: Kanaya Maryam/Vriska Serket
Kudos: 26





	1. I just got an epic idea

It's been a long day. Kanaya decides to treat herself, and makes her way to the local Starbucks for a nice warm coffee. When she arrives, she's shocked to see a familiar face.

"NO WAY. MARYAM????????" the woman behind the counter yells upon seeing her.

"Uh. Wow!" Kanaya isn't sure how to feel about encountering Vriska again, but apparently her brain decides that the correct response is to be filled with adrenaline. "I had no idea you lived here," she says, holding her wallet politely in front of her.

"This is crazy seeing you again! Anyway what can I get you?" Vriska starts pressing buttons on the screen in front of her. Kanaya orders her coffee and hands Vriska a five, then gets a few cents as change. There's a moment where their hands touch as the exchange takes place, and Kanaya feels almost shameful at the warm feeling she gets. The electricity that seems to pulse through her. Getting over Vriska years ago was hard enough, and now that she knows she lives here, it's probably going to be rough again.

She makes her way to a table by the pickup counter to wait for her drink. Vriska decides it's totally appropriate to take her break and take a seat right in front of her. "So how've ya been?" she asks, her head weighted on her two fists, one of them a hi-tech prosthetic.

"I've been alright. I see you finally saved the money for that fancy prosthetic," Kanaya says, weakly gesturing to Vriska's left arm.

"Heh, yeah," she replies, wiggling her metal fingers, "Pretty cool, huh?" Kanaya nods.

"Um.. shouldn't you be making my coffee?"

"Nah, Tyler's got that covered, RIGHT TYLER?" Vriska yells over her shoulder, and a teen boy behind the counter gives a thumbs up. She smirks back at Kanaya who chuckles in return. "It's honestly sooooooooo GREAT to see you, fussyfangs!" Kanaya winces at the childhood nickname. "GOD now that I see you, I'm like, thinking about all our shenanigans back in the day! Ew, remember our gross neighbor? What was his name.. Doctor...."

"Doc Scratch is what he made us call him. Yes, how could I forget?" Kanaya says with deep disgust in her voice.

"Hmph," Vriska chuckles, "I seriously haven't thought about him since like right now."

"That's lucky."

"Well, you know me," Vriska says with a smirk.

"Yes, yes, 'All The Luck,' I know," Kanaya rolls her eyes, but she's smiling.

Tyler brings over Kanaya's drink, setting it down in front of her. She warms her hands on the cup and takes a small sip, the warmth filling her body, though slightly burning the tip of her tongue.

"Hey! I just got an epic idea," Vriska says, a dangerous gleam in her eye.

"And what's that?" Kanaya asks, cautiously looking up from her coffee.

"What if we went on a road trip back to our hometown? For old time's sake!" she says with a grin.

Kanaya smiles and lowers her head. "Vriska, that's... outlandish."

"What do you mean?? C'mon I KNOW you want to!"

"You don't know me. Not anymore. I have a job, I have responsibilities to tend to! I can't just go off on a week-long trip for 'old time's sake.'" She crosses an arm over her chest and sighs, taking another sip of coffee. "If you'd like to hang out with me again, we could always schedule something more casual."

Vriska rolls her eyes. "Ugh, still as boring as ever! For some reason I thought you might have grown out of it, but nope!!!" she complains, tapping her nails on the table. "Come OOOOOOOON!!!!!!!! Don't you wanna like, go on an adventure for once? Just take a break and have some fun?"

It's very tempting. Especially so is the chance to spend time with Vriska again. Kanaya sighs and sets her drink on the table. "As fun as that sounds, I cannot just leave all my responsibilities behind." Growing impatient, Vriska's fingers move faster creating louder tapping. She looks at Kanaya with a scowl.

"Fine! But here," she grabs Kanaya's drink and pulls a sharpie out of her apron, scribbles something on the cup, then hands it back. "If you change your mind, there's my number." Vriska then stands, and goes back over to her spot behind the counter.

Eyeing the number scrawled on her cup, Kanaya sighs. This girl is dangerous. She knows this. It isn't smart of her to allow her back in her life. But, god, does she want to. More than anything at this moment.

She sits quietly, slowly sipping on her drink until it's empty. She stares at Vriska's number again, some churning feeling rising in her stomach. Reluctantly, Kanaya exits the cafe, empty cup still in hand, and drives home, all the way telling herself she can't be doing this.

When she gets to her apartment, she takes the cup inside with her, and sets it on the countertop. She stares at it, zoning out for a moment. "No. No!" she shouts at herself. "No. You're not doing this. She's just going to- and... ugh...." She snatches up the cup, and throws it angrily into her trash.

But later that night she can't sleep. She tosses and turns, thinking of the discarded coffee cup sitting in her garbage can, Vriska's phone number burning a hole into it.

After a fit of frustration, Kanaya decides to try and get her mind off of it by watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. She successfully falls asleep eventually, and wakes up still itching to snatch the trashed cup right back out and take down the number on it.

While making her breakfast that morning, the cup in the trash continues to haunt her. Wouldn’t it be nice, she thinks? To get away for a week or so to hang out with an old friend? Going back to the place where she grew up? The nostalgia for her childhood keeps drawing her back. What’s so bad about taking a week off? She has plenty of sick days saved up.

But Vriska. Kanaya keeps having to remind herself of the dangers of associating with her. The amount of trouble she got in in her youth thanks to that girl.

Perhaps she’s changed? Kanaya has always been one to give second chances. And she has to admit to herself that spending some time away from it all just to kick back with an old friend does sound awfully nice. What’s that smell?

“FUCK!” Kanaya’s eggs have been burning to a crisp on the skillet while she’d been lost in thought. She discards the inedible mess, and angrily stomps over to her trash can, retrieving the Starbucks cup.

KANAYA: Fuck It  
KANAYA: Let's Do It  
KANAYA: When Can I Meet You?  
VRISKA: I knew you'd c8ve ::::)  



	2. On the Road

Her bags are packed. A few changes of clothes and cute little travel-sized toiletries. But the cuteness of the toiletries can't distract Kanaya from the anxieties she's feeling. She starts to rethink her decision, as she sits on her bed, waiting for the "I'm here," text from Vriska. Maybe this is all just a really bad idea. Vriska and Kanaya were good friends in their childhood, sure, but they both must have changed a lot by now. Kanaya knows that she certainly has.

Or maybe she's overthinking it. Maybe Vriska will have matured by now? Grown up, at least a little bit? She's an adult, too. It's been eight whole years since they've seen each other, and a lot can happen in that time! 

Kanaya's phone buzzes and she startles from her trance-like state of internal contemplation. It's Vriska saying she's waiting for her. Kanaya takes a deep breath and attempts to mentally pump herself up as she grabs her things and heads to the elevator. They're going to have fun! Bond over their past! Make new memories together! It's going to be a great time! 

She exits the building and sees Vriska: leaning against her truck, her arm folded across her chest. When she notices her, she cracks a smile and waves. Kanaya smiles in return, and approaches Vriska, who then helps her load her bags into the truck.

"Will our things be safe like this?" Kanaya asks sceptically, "It seems they would just fly out, or at least get filthy.." 

"Oh jeez, Kan.... You haven't changed a bit, have you?" Vriska teases, "Nothin's gonna fly outta here, you dummy! I'm gonna tie it all down, and you'll just have to live with having a few specs of dirt on your bags. Come on, let's go, Maryam!!!!!!!!" 

Kanaya climbs into the passenger seat, struggling a bit with how high the truck is off the ground. She's used to effortlessly stepping into her little compact car. "Buckled?" Vriska asks. Kanaya nods, and she zooms out of the parking lot, and presses play on the car stereo. Some rock music that Kanaya doesn't recognize starts to play in the middle of a song. 

"Man, I am pumped! Are you pumped, Kan?? This is gonna be soooooooo great!!! Just the two of us girls, goin' back to where it all began," Vriska prattles excitedly. Kanaya smiles. 

"Yeah I am pretty pumped," she says with a light chuckle. Maybe she was wrong to be so hesitant, she thinks. Maybe she was too quick to assume that Vriska hadn't changed. 

"Hey, let's talk!" Vriska suggests, turning the volume of the music down.

"Oh. Sure." 

"What have you been up to all this time? You said you've got a job, yeah? What do you do?" Vriska asks, sounding genuinely interested. 

"I'm an intern at a design company," Kanaya answers tersely.

"Ooooh still into fashion? That's pretty cool!!! I bet you could totally be a famous designer some day!" 

"I don't know about famous..." 

"Aw, don't be modest, fussyfangs! I remember all the rad shit you made in high school! You're, like, a visionary!" Vriska insists, gesticulating with her prosthetic arm, keeping her flesh arm on the wheel. "And I mean _that_ was just high school! I bet you're like a bajillion times better by now, too." 

"Heh... Not really... But thanks for saying so," Kanaya replies, staring at her lap. Her face feels warm, and that warmth is spreading to her heart. She missed this. Vriska was always so enthusiastically encouraging about Kanaya's fashion design prospects. She'd always volunteer to try on the clothes she'd make. When they were much younger, she'd talk about how she'd be Kanaya's model, and they'd travel the world together showing off her amazing work. 

"You and your damn modesty! Seriously, I think it's so cool that you stuck with it! You've got a passion and you're strivin' for it! I'm honestly a little jealous..." 

"Jealous? That I'm an intern at a design company?" Kanaya asks facetiously, a light laugh trailing her words. 

"No, that you've got a passion! A passion that you're not giving up on! I wish I had something like that," Vriska clarifies.

"Oh, you mean serving overpriced coffee to entitled patrons whilst maintaining a false air of positivity _isn't_ your passion?" Kanaya jeers.

"Oh, shut up!" Vriska hits Kanaya's shoulder playfully. 

"So what _have_ you been up to? Besides the barista thing, I mean," Kanaya ponders.

"Meh... Not much, to be honest. I was kinda homeless for a little while there!" Vriska says as if she's proud of it.

"Wow, seriously?" 

"Haha, yeah... It wasn't too bad, though! I mean.. Like, yeah, okay it was pretty fucking awful, but I was also totally free! Yaknow, no responsibilities weighing me down, no obligations to anything or anyone. Contributing to capitalism can be such a burden."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Kanaya laughs. "How did that happen, though? Surely you've got people you're in touch with that could have helped you out? I mean... My number hasn't changed. You could have asked me if you still had it." 

"I did... I think I was just... trying to prove something, I guess? I dunno. It was pretty stupid of me in retrospect," Vriska says with a sigh. 

"What were you trying to prove?" 

"I dunno! I guess that, like.. Like that I'm strong enough. Strong enough to get through the worst shit. And that if I could just take on having no place to sleep or whatever, instead of asking for help, that it'd prove my strength," she reasons.

"Well that's stupid," Kanaya chides. 

"HA! Yeah, yeah... Man, I forgot how blunt you can be sometimes! Kind of hilarious," Vriska laughs.

"Well it is! Refusing to ask for help is just about the weakest thing one could do."

"Yeah, I kinda... figured that out..." Vriska reaches for the drink in the cupholder beneath the stereo. It looks to be some kind of cola in a Big Gulp cup. The lack of condensation on its surface seems to suggest that it's pretty old, but of course she takes a sip anyway, her face only _slightly_ souring at the staleness. 

They hit the freeway. The point of no return is waving goodbye to Kanaya, and she's content with that. She's excited, even!

"Kinda crazy that we ended up in the same town, huh?" Vriska mentions. The sun is starting to set behind the mountains in the distance. "Considering how far it is from where we grew up." Kanaya has been staring out her side window, completely zoned out on the landscape and the colors of the sky. She startles at Vriska speaking.

"Hm? Oh. Yeah, I guess that's true," she considers, "Did you track me down or something, Vriska?" 

Vriska laughs, "Hah! No way, Maryam. You WISH I followed you on purpose!!!!!!!!!" she jokes. Kanaya chuckles. 

"It is quite the crazy coincidence, yeah," Kanaya agrees. 

The two fall into a comfortable, hours-long conversation that takes many seemingly unrelated detours, and results in fits of laughter more than a few times. "We're getting close to the motel," Vriska says with a yawn, "Good thing, too! I'm starting to get a bit sleepy!"

"Oh, you actually planned where we would be staying overnight?" Kanaya asks, "I'm genuinely impressed, I'd assumed this trip would be mostly improv." 

"C'mon, Maryam, you don't actually think I'm _that_ irresponsible, do you?" Vriska counters, "Of COURSE I got us a place to sleep! I even went through the reviews to make sure it wasn't a total shithouse!!!" she brags. 

"Alright, alright, I misjudged you," Kanaya admits. 

They arrive at a Motel 6, and Vriska picks up the room key and then parks as close to their room as she can. She helps Kanaya down from the truck, then unloads their stuff from the truck bed, handing Kanaya her bags. When Vriska unlocks the door and lets them in, Kanaya is momentarily surprised. "Only one bed?" she asks politely, as if it doesn't even matter. 

"Yeah... They only had single-bed rooms left when I was booking, haha! But it's cool, right?" Vriska seems nervous. Like the prospect of sharing a bed with Kanaya makes her jumpy. They used to share a bed all the time when they were really young, back in elementary school when they were small enough to fit in a twin together. But they're adults, now, and sleeping together has a whole different kind of connotation to it. A connotation that it is clear neither of them can ignore. 

"Yeah I suppose that's cool," Kanaya answers, not wanting to give away the embarrassment she's feeling. The shame she's feeling. She fears the crush she had on Vriska in middle school hasn't left her... 

"Man, I'm hungry!" Vriska says, throwing her stuff into a corner of the room. She plops down on the left side of the bed. "Wanna go to Denny's?"

"Denny's?" Kanaya says disgustedly.

"We get a free short stack of pancakes with our order!" Vriska says in a sing-songy voice, showing Kanaya the coupon that was sitting on the nightstand. Kanaya rolls her eyes.

"I guess if it's the only option, I am feeling pretty famished..." she says bitterly. 

"Awesome!" Vriska exclaims, "Let's go!" 

"So... what are you most excited about seeing again back in town?" Kanaya asks politely.

"Hmmm... Probably our old neighborhood, to be honest!" Vriska replies cheerfully as she sips her coffee.

"Really?" Kanaya says, shocked, "I didn't think we'd be going back _there..._ " She holds back a visible shutter, "Bad memories..."

"Yeah, but what about all the GOOD memories? We've got tons of those from back there, too!" Vriska reasons, trying to pump Kanaya up. "And maybe we'll even see that crumby old neighbor again. I'll bet he still lives in that stupid house he painted all green... God, what a weirdo! We could like, show him how AWESOME we're doing on our own!" 

Kanaya sets down her fork and sighs. "That sounds like a terrible idea. I never want to see that man again."

"What! Not even to like, stick it to him? Make fun of his stupid bald head.. haha..." 

"What?? Vriska, that is incredibly childish, what are you even talking about? I just want to go to the old shops and maybe run into a couple of old friends, I never wanted to confront _him_ ever again!" Kanaya is beginning to lose her temper, thinking about the abuse she and Vriska suffered at the hands of that man. She tries to focus on her breathing and calm herself down. Vriska looks surprised that she's getting so angry. 

"Haha.. Jeez, Kan I was just joking around! Calm down, alright?" she says, and pats Kanaya's hand that's gripping her knife with excessive force. "You said you're looking forward to the shops, right? Awesome! We'll go to ALL the shops and I'll totally get you anything you want! It'll be great!" 

"Ahuh. With what money, Vriska?" Kanaya says snidely, her smile coming back to her.

"I never said I would BUY the things, I said I'd GET them. See the difference?" Vriska says with a wink. Except she only has one eye, so it's just like a forceful blink, but Kanaya gets what she's trying to do and laughs. "Oooh positive reaction! You HAVE changed, Maryam!" Vriska says giddily, her metal fingers tapping on the table. Kanaya just rolls her eyes with a smile. She doesn't want to ACTIVELY encourage Vriska's stealing, but she won't try to stop it, either. She just sits in shoplifting limbo. 

After their sub-par meal that leaves them both feeling bloated and regretful, the girls head back to the motel room. There's an awkward conversation about whether or not they should retreat to the bathroom to avoid changing in front of one another, but Vriska just starts undressing when she's fed up with the energy in the room, much to the shock and flusterment of Kanaya. Whatever! If it's not a big deal to Vriska then it's not a big deal! Kanaya changes into her silk pajamas, while Vriska throws on a pair of sweat-shorts and a sports bra, and removes her prosthesis.

"Woooooooow look at you!" Vriska exclaims, "Those are some fancy shmancy pj's ya got there!" she teases, but in an endearing and mostly genuine way. "Did you make 'em?"

"Yeah... I don't really wear much that I haven't made these days," Kanaya answers, "I don't like it when things... don't fit right." 

"Fair enough!" Vriska says, turning the bedside lamp off and hopping into bed. Kanaya follows suit, and is instantly painfully aware of how close she and Vriska are. It's a full-sized bed, just barely fitting the two of them comfortably, and their shoulders are nearly touching when they both lie on their backs. 

Vriska turns onto her side to face Kanaya and says, "Man, this reminds me of when we'd have sleepovers together as kids! That was always so much fun!!!" 

Kanaya smiles, "Yeah, it was.. a time." 

"We'd stay up late, talking about our parents, and crushes, and life, and all that good stuff! I'm feelin' so nostalgic for all of it! We should do that again!" Vriska says excitedly.

"I thought you were tired," Kanaya chides her playfully. 

"I had coffee!" Vriska reminds her.

"Right. So you want to talk, then?" 

"Yeah!!!!!!!!"

"What about?" Kanaya yawns.

"Aw jeez, we can just go to sleep if you're tired!" 

"No, it's fine. We haven't seen each other in so long, there's plenty to catch up on still. Let's talk."

"Really?"

"Yeah." 

"Okay, cool!" Vriska grins. Kanaya can just barely see the glint of her teeth in the dark. "So.... do youuuuuuuuu have a crush on anyone?" Vriska sings in a childish manner.

"Oh, come on," Kanaya laughs and rolls her eyes. 

"I'm KIDDING!" Vriska says with a chuckle, "But seriously, are you, like, seeing anyone?" 

"No, not really," Kanaya responds quietly. 

"Too busy, right?" Vriska says teasingly. 

"That's the excuse I've been using." She turns to her side to face Vriska. "But the truth is I just haven't been actively looking. That's it, really."

"But if you met a cute girl, you'd be all over that," Vriska says, not as a question but as a statement of fact. Her tone is playful, but hints at underlying anxiety.

"Heh. Yeah, probably..." she says bashfully. "What about you? You're not still with Tavros, I presume." 

"Yuck! No way! I'm tooooooootally DONE with men," Vriska says, raising her voice. 

"Oh yeah?" 

"Yeah. Girls are the only way to go, for sure." 

"Can't say I disagree," Kanaya says. Her eyes have adjusted to the light enough to the point where she can make out Vriska's facial features. She can see the uncharacteristic softness in said features. She can see how Vriska's pupil is so dilated from the dark it's basically taking up her entire iris, and how the moonlight reflects on it. She can see her chapped lips forming a soft smile directed right at her. 

"Since we're on sleepover topics," Vriska says, her voice considerably quieter than just a moment ago, "Can I tell you something kinda stupid?" she grins awkwardly.

"Sure." 

"Heh. Back in high school, when I was first sort of figuring out my sexuality... Well. Haha! You were kinda my gay awakening, I guess!" she says, giggling nervously and averting her gaze. Kanaya's mouth opens in shock, but she's speechless. How _could_ she say anything? _What_ would she even say?? 'Wow that's so funny because I'm literally still in love with you'? Is that true? It was just a rogue thought that made its way into Kanaya's mind, but as she stares at Vriska with her mouth agape, she thinks it might not be so off-base. 

"Well, jeez, don't look TOO happy!" Vriska jokes, trying to play off her embarrassment and discomfort. 

"Sorry!" Kanaya shakes her head from her thoughts, "That just caught me off guard. I never knew you had felt that way about me. Are you serious?" 

"Yeah, why would I say something like that as a joke??" 

"I don't know, you say a lot of things that seem serious as a joke!" Kanaya says in defense. 

"That's fair," Vriska laughs, "But yeah seriously. When you came out, I guess I was like 'Oh there's a possibility she's into me, so now I'm into her!' Haha, I dunno. I was a kid, I had pretty stupid logic back then. It's totally embarrassing, but I was honestly a little obsessed with you. Not that I would have ever admitted it back then." Kanaya can't take her eyes off Vriska's mouth as she speaks. She's thrown back to her youth, when she'd yearn for the day that she'd finally muster up the courage to tell Vriska how she feels. To kiss Vriska. 

"That's pretty funny," she says. 

"Heh, yeah," Vriska says embarrassedly, her voice cracking. 

"Because I also had a crush on you at that time," Kanaya declares. 

"Ha! No way, seriously???" 

"Seriously," she chuckles. The two girls stare at each other, into each other, for what seems like an eternity. Kanaya wonders if this is it. If she could do or say something that would lead to them being.. together? Why would Vriska bring this up, if she wasn't still holding onto those feelings in some way? Kanaya definitely wants to kiss her. Her eyes keep falling to her lips as her mind plays out a thousand scenarios at once of what might happen if she made a move. She's so lost in her own mind that it takes a moment to process that Vriska is already kissing her. She doesn't have time to kiss back before it's over, and Vriska twists onto her back to stare at the ceiling. 

"Sorry," she says softly, "I just wanted to get it out of my system." 

"It's ok." Nothing is said after that, and silence takes over the room. The only sound that can be heard is the pair's quiet breathing, until they both slip out of consciousness. 


	3. Slammed With Nostalgia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains brief and vague discussion of child abuse and csa towards the end

Kanaya wakes up first, and it takes her a moment to remember that she's not in her own bed, but is actually mere inches away from Vriska Serket in this mediocre motel. Vriska is still snoring loudly as Kanaya begins to get herself out of bed. She stands, taking a drink of water from the bottle left on her nightstand. Vriska looks so peaceful. Her hair is a tangled mess, and her arm is twisted up around her face, but she still looks gorgeous to Kanaya. 

As she brushes her teeth, Kanaya thinks about the night before. About this kiss. Can it even really be called that? Their lips touched, sure, but it was so fleeting, so light, almost like it was nothing at all. Just a whisper of a true kiss. Kanaya wishes she'd been more attentive, able to kiss Vriska back. But in another part of her mind, she thinks maybe it was for the best that that's all it was. Just a whisper of a kiss. Surely that's all Vriska intended it to be, or she would have pressed harder, or even just said something different.

"Just needed to get it out of my system," she had said. So she's done now. No more kissing needs to occur. 

Kanaya digs through her bag to find the case that holds her reading glasses, and puts them on to check her phone. She doesn't wear them often, mostly just in the morning when her eyes are still adjusting and she needs to read something. She has a couple of texts from a coworker asking how her trip is going, and she responds with a vague sentence about how everything is great and that she's doing fine. 

"Glasses?" Vriska asks groggily, startling Kanaya. 

"What? Oh. Yeah. Just reading glasses for... reading," she responds quietly. 

"They suit you! I mean, probably, I can barely see without mine so you're mostly a blob with a darker blob on your face right now," Vriska laughs. She reaches over to her nightstand and grabs her own glasses. "I was right," she says smugly. Kanaya rolls her eyes with a smile. 

Vriska sits up and stretches her arm over her head as Kanaya watches, admiring the way her body moves, the way the morning light illuminates her in such a beautiful way. She silently scoffs at herself and removes her glasses, putting them back in their case. "So, do we have a plan for today?" Kanaya asks.

"Not really!" Vriska says excitedly, "I figured we'd just go with the flow, baby! You wanted to check out some of the old shops, right?" Kanaya nods. "Cool! Let's grab some b-fast and head into town, then!" 

After getting dressed, the two head to the lobby where a sparse continental breakfast is being served. Scrambled eggs, potatoes, flapjacks, a selection of different cereals, coffee, etc. Vriska pours herself a bowl of fruitloops, while Kanaya dishes herself a plate of some food with actual substance. 

"I was thinking," Vriska says, swallowing a bite of her cereal, "Tonight, we should totally visit our neighborhood!"

"Tonight?" Kanaya repeats skeptically, "After dark, you mean?" Vriska shrugs.

"Yeah, sure, just like when everyones asleep and stuff."

Kanaya looks at her suspiciously, "When everyone's asleep... This sounds awfully suspicious, Vriska," she says jokingly. Vriska chuckles and hastily shovels the rest of her cereal into her mouth. 

"I just don't wanna be, like... interrupted, yaknow? Like, if we go in the daytime it might look weird, like 'who are these two ladies walking around our good christian neighborhood' or whatever," she clarifies.

"Alright," Kanaya says, smiling and shaking her head at Vriska's strange justifications. 

Once breakfast is finished, they hop into Vriska's truck and set out to town. Vriska lets Kanaya pick the soundtrack this time, so she puts on her playlist of 2000s bops that make her feel nostalgic. Vriska teases her about her taste not changing since they were kids, but Kanaya is unphased, unapologetically singing along to her favorite songs of yesteryear. 

The first place they find is the craft store that Kanaya used to spend a lot of her time in. It looks almost identical to how she remembers it, and she's filled with joyful nostalgia as she steps through the door. Vriska follows her around like a puppy, watching Kanaya as she paces the aisles, running her hands along the reams of fabric, ogling the stocks of embroidery thread and fancy fabric scissors. When she's not looking, Vriska snags a couple of spools and shoves them in her tote bag. 

Kanaya ends up purchasing a few yards of fabric, because she just can't resist! She hasn't seen these patterns anywhere else and she's not going to pass up the opportunity! When they step out onto the sidewalk, Vriska nudges her, opening up her bag. "Check it out," she says smugly. 

"Oh my god...." is all Kanaya can think to say. 

"I stole 'em for you! Here, put 'em in your little fabric bag," she says, taking the thread out of her tote and handing them to Kanaya. 

"You are actually insane," Kanaya says through a nervous chuckle, putting the spools into the plastic bag the store clerk gave her.

"Correct!" Vriska says with a grin. "C'mon! I wanna check out the antique store!" Vriska takes Kanaya's hand and drags her off.

"Okay, you're not stealing anything from there, though, alright! It's family-owned!" Kanaya insists. 

From the antique store, Kanaya can't resist buying a cute little ceramic cat figurine for her friend back home who loves cats. Vriska wanders off while her back is turned, and Kanaya tries not to be nervous about it as she admires the lovely antiques on the shelves. 

A moment later, Vriska finds her, poking her shoulder. "Hey! I got you somethin'!" she says, reaching into her bag, "And I  _ bought it _ this time." She hands Kanaya a long rectangular velvet box, that feels weighty in her hands. Kanaya looks at her, confused. "You can open it now! Or, later, whatever you want!" Vriska says with a nervous laugh. 

Hesitantly, Kanaya pops open the box. Inside, is a gorgeous silver necklace, with intricate floral patterns surrounding a jade pendant. She stares at it in stunned silence, her mouth slightly open. Vriska grins, seeing how surprised Kanaya seems to be. 

"Oh, wow, Vriska.. This is so thoughtful, for you," she says, half-teasingly and halfway still stunned by the gesture from her childhood crush. 

"What, you don't think I'm thoughtful?" Vriska crosses her arms and Kanaya rolls her eyes, shutting the box. 

"It's very nice, Vriska, thank you," she says with a genuine smile. Vriska looks proud. Kanaya, for once, thinks that she should be. She's sincerely touched by the gift, and starts overanalyzing it immediately. Was it meant to be a romantic gesture, or strictly platonic? Is it too rude to ask how much it costs? It's not like Vriska has very much on her, so surely it wasn't  _ that _ much and can't be  _ that _ much of a deal. 

They walk around the store for a little while longer before Kanaya purchases a few things, and they find their way back to the truck. Kanaya keeps thinking about the necklace. About what it could signify. Once she's buckled into her seat, she opens up the box again to look at it.

"Man, I really nailed it, huh?" Vriska says smugly. 

Kanaya chuckles, "You honestly did," she says, smiling. "Why?" she asks.

"What'd'ya mean?" 

"Why did you buy this for me?" 

"Uhhhhhhhh... I dunno, I saw it and thought of you and I knew you would like it, and obviously I was totally right!" Vriska says as she puts on her turn signal and looks into her mirrors. 

"So, you're not trying to use it as leverage?" Kanaya jokes.

"What! What are you talking about, Maryam! Can't a girl just buy her friend a nice gift?!" 

Kanaya laughs, "Sure she can." 

Vriska sighs. "I just.. thought you deserved something nice, yaknow? For like, agreeing to go on this trip with me, or whatever..." Kanaya smiles to herself. 

"I'm glad I did," she says sincerely, "I'm truly enjoying myself." 

Vriska grins widely, her face seeming to light up at the confirmation that Kanaya is actually happy being with her. "So, where do you wanna go next?" she asks.

"Hmmm... Well, I'd love to get something to eat," Kanaya responds, only just now noticing how hungry she is. It's nearly 5 and they haven't eaten anything since their measly continental breakfast. 

"Oh duh! Hah, we've been having so much fun I almost forgot about eating!" Vriska says, her voice cracking. "I know exactly where we can get somethin to eat," she declares. 

Vriska parks on the curb next to a nice little family-owned diner that the two used to frequent as teens called Bailey's Kitchen.. "Oh. Wow. I nearly forgot this place existed," Kanaya says. 

"What! How! This was like, our main spot back in the day!" 

"I guess I blocked out a lot of my memories from 'back in the day,'" Kanaya reasons. 

"Well, I guess that's a good reason to make some new ones!" Vriska smiles, and Kanaya can't help but smile back. Vriska has always had a downright infectious smile. 

They walk through the doors and Kanaya is slammed with a rush of emotion when she's hit with the smell of the place. Such strong feelings and memories conjured with just the wafting scent of burnt coffee, she's almost taken aback. The menus they're handed look nothing like what Kanaya remembers--they still contain mostly the same items, with a few new things, but some of her old favorites are now missing.

"It's so weird how much came flooding back to me just by walking through those doors," Kanaya says, glancing up at Vriska from her menu browsing. 

"Oh yeah?" Vriska sets her menu down to focus her attention on Kanaya.

"Yeah, like...." Kanaya smiles, and laughs, "Like I just remembered the time we came here late at night, and there were these weird fratty guys at the other table that were staring at us and you-"

"OH MY GOD, yeah yeah!! I was straight up ready to cut a motherfucker I was so fucking pissed!" 

"What had they even done!" Kanaya asks, still laughing.

"They were being men and staring at us! That's more than enough to warrant violence on my part, if you ask me!!!!!!!!" 

"Ahuh, that sounds about right if I'm asking you," Kanaya teases. Vriska rolls her eye and goes back to looking at her menu. 

A friendly waitress comes to take their order, and soon enough they have their meals in front of them. Vriska got what she always used to get, but Kanaya opted to try one of their new menu items. 

Vriska takes a bite of her hashbrowns and smiles. "Mmm, still half-cooked! Just like I remember," she says lovingly, as if that's a good thing. Kanaya chuckles, as she attempts to take a bite of her sandwich, but half the ingredients fall out onto her plate of fries. She ends up using a fork to eat the majority of it. 

"See, this is great!" Vriska says, "This is exactly the type of shit I was looking forward to so much!" she exclaims.

"What do you mean?" Kanaya asks, dipping a fry into the pile of ketchup she'd squirted onto the side of her plate. 

"Just, like, hanging out like we used to, in the same places we used to, yaknow? Remembering all the good times we had together by having even more good times!" she explains. 

Kanaya nods, "Yeah..." she says, sighing wistfully. Vriska seems to be a lot more thoughtful and just, nice in general than Kanaya had remembered her to be. It's unfortunately making her feelings for her grow that much stronger. She rests her head on her fist and watches Vriska as she finishes up the last little sips of her milkshake.

"Hey..." Vriska says, a lot quieter than she's been talking for their entire time at the diner so far, "So, after this... Old neighborhood?" Ah, right. The thing that Vriska said she's super excited for that Kanaya honestly cannot understand the reasoning of.

"Yeah, sure," she responds with a smile, hiding the anxiety that is building in her chest. She doesn't want to go back there. When she moved away, Kanaya was ecstatic at the idea that she would never have to step foot in that cul-de-sac ever again. Her memories of the place mostly consist of that rotten old neighbor of theirs, "Doc Scratch" or whatever his real name is. 

He had tricked both of the girls into seeing him as some kind of mentor figure, or somewhat of a paternal figure, Kanaya supposes. But in reality, he was just using them as accessories to his various crimes. "Nobody expects the little girls," he had said, when Vriska finally mustered up the courage to call him out. Kanaya wanted to get the police involved, but Vriska was convinced that the two of them would get in trouble for listening to him. So they promised to keep it to themselves. 

After paying for their meals, the girls get into Vriska's truck and start off towards their old neighborhood. The streets are both familiar and completely novel at the same time to Kanaya's eyes. She recalls many late nights driving around these streets with Vriska as she was dragged along on whatever little "rebellious activity" she had planned. It may or may not have involved a little arson, but there was always some flavor of vandalism or another. It's not that Kanaya thought it was like, a good thing to do, she was ALWAYS telling Vriska how ridiculous she was being, and how dangerous it was, but she always let her get away with it anyway. At the time, it seemed to be just a normal teen rebellion phase that Vriska would grow out of in time. Kanaya didn't really grasp the seriousness of starting literal dumpster fires back then. 

"So here's the thing," Vriska says, snapping Kanaya out of her reminiscing, "I'm gonna kill him." 

"Sorry?" Kanaya says, not processing the meaning of the declaration, as well as hoping she merely misheard. 

"Doc Scratch, or whatever his real name is, I'm gonna kill him. Don't. Try to stop me." Her voice is steady and stern. 

Kanaya laughs nervously, "You're... kidding, right? How do you plan to go about this?" She tries to remain calm, running with the assumption that this is just a joke or some kind of weird prank. 

"There's a gun in the glove compartment. I'm going to shoot him in his sleep, quick and easy." She seems quite serious. Kanaya's heart starts to race as her stomach churns with intense anxiety. She fears she might actually be sick.

"Right, and how exactly do you think you're going to get away with it?" Kanaya asks, still trying to pretend like it's a joke, despite knowing how serious Vriska actually is. She doesn't want her to be serious. She wants it to be a joke. 

"Look, I've thought this through, alright? I've got gloves that'll leave no trace, it'll be nice and clean."

"Vriska. You can't be serious. Please tell me you're not fucking serious," Kanaya pleads. Vriska says nothing, her gaze focused on the road ahead of her. "Vriska. Come on. Is this seriously what you've been planning all along? You just wanted to go on this trip to kill this guy that no longer has any bearing on our lives? Is that all this is to you?" Tears prick at Kanaya's eyes as she struggles to get through her words.

"No, no.. Listen, I.." Vriska sighs, "I really enjoyed spending this time with you, and I.. want to keep spending time with you after this I-" 

Kanaya scoffs, cutting her off, "Right, right, after you kill this dude everything will just go back to normal and we'll be great friends just like the old days, right? Vriska, are you hearing yourself? This is actually insane. I won't stand by and let you do this." 

Vriska sighs sadly. "No. You're not gonna stop me. Not after I've come this far and prepared this much."

"Are you really prepared though? You have a gun and a pair of gloves, and you really think that's enough to get away with literal murder???" Kanaya shouts, "Look Vriska, it was one thing when you were setting trashcans on fire or whatever as a teenager, but this is fucking serious! This is the big fucking crime!!!" 

Vriska growls in frustration, then quickly pulls over and parks on a curb in the middle of the street. She turns her body towards Kanaya and makes direct eye contact. "Listen to me Kanaya. You are not going to stop me. This creep deserves to fucking die, and you know it's true. He did all that terrible shit to us as kids, and he probably has even more little kids that he's using all over again. Do you really want that cycle to continue? I don't. I'm going to put an end to it, permanently." 

Kanaya crosses her arms, rolling her eyes. "I cannot fucking believe this. I thought we were going on a nice nostalgia trip together and this whole time you've just been planning on committing a fucking murder. Great! Why did you even have to bring me along? Why couldn't you just go and murder a guy on your own time?" 

"Because, if I have YOU with me, you're my alibi! If I went alone it'd be suspicious and I'd IMMEDIATELY be found out as the criminal! But you.. you're, like, completely innocent, like you don't even shoplift ever! If you're with me, it just makes it that much easier!" 

"Oh my god..." 

"Kanaya, don't you agree that he deserves this? To die?" Vriska asks, gripping Kanaya's shoulder. 

"NO!!!!!" Kanaya screams, pushing Vriska's arm off of her. "I mean I.." she sighs, "Maybe, but-"

"You KNOW he does!"

"But why you??? Why do you have to be the one to kill him? Do you really think you're that fucking special?" Kanaya can't hold back her tears of frustration as she yells. 

"Well, yeah??? I'm one of his fucking victims, Kanaya, and so are you! Of course I should be the one to kill him! If not me, then you!" Kanaya scoffs in disgust at this suggestion. "Yeah, I know. That's why I'M doing it. Get it?" Vriska's tone becomes less sympathetic and more aggressive by the second. Kanaya drags her hands down her face with a sigh of exhaustion.

"Vriska... Fuck..." is all she can get out, as her mind is racing at a million miles a second while she tries to figure out what the fuck is going on. 

"That sick fuck needs to die, Kanaya. You know it's true. He can't be allowed to keep living his sick, perverted life, abusing generations of kids over and fucking over again! What happened to us shouldn't happen to anyone else, and I need to make sure that this creep gets what he deserves." 

Kanaya doesn't know what to do, doesn't know what to think. Mostly, she just wants to go home at this point. She feels like such an idiot for getting herself into this situation. She KNEW Vriska was dangerous. She should have listened to her gut when it told her what a bad idea this whole trip was. 

Was any of the nice stuff that Vriska said or did even genuine? That fucking necklace. Kanaya had been joking about the whole "using it as leverage," thing, but she was right! Vriska was just trying to butter her up to lessen the blow of her true plans. 

"Take me back to the motel," Kanaya demands. 

"Right after I kill him." 

"NO!" Kanaya screams, "NO NO NO! God FUCKING dammit, Vriska! I let you get away with WAY too much when we were kids, I'm not letting you get away with ACTUAL FUCKING MURDER!!!!" 

Vriska takes a deep breath, attempting to calm herself down. "No matter what you say, you're not going to change my mind," she says as steadily as she can, "I am set on this plan and you aren't going to stop me." She turns back to the wheel, and pulls back onto the road. Kanaya slumps in her seat and cries into her hands. 

"It's like you don't even remember what he made us do," Vriska mutters, "Like, everyone would agree that he deserves to fucking die if they knew! Why are you so- ugh.." She seems to be mostly talking to herself. Kanaya sighs. 

"So this whole trips was a farce," she whispers. 

"No! Kanaya! God dammit!"

"At least pull over if you're going to yell at me again," Kanaya demands. Vriska actually listens to her for once, and pulls up to a curb not very far from where she last parked. "Wow." 

"You asked for it! Kanaya, I have genuinely enjoyed every moment we've spent together on this trip, okay? I didn't fake LIKING you! I didn't kiss you as a fucking prank! But I need to take this opportunity to do what needs to be done," she tries to explain. "If there were no consequences.. Like, if this were like the purge or whatever, I bet you'd do it, too. I bet you'd kill EVERY pedophile you could get your hands on!" 

Kanaya scoffs, "Alright, he was a creep, but we don't know that he was an actual  _ pedophile."  _

"We don't kno- WHAT?!?!? Kanaya. You. Holy shit. I was kidding, but you actually don't remember, do you!" Vriska practically jumps at Kanaya, taking hold of both of her shoulders.

"What- I- What are you talking about??"

"Kanaya.... What do you remember that he made us do?"

"He... He made us deliver cocaine under the guise of a dry-cleaning service..."

"And...." 

"And we would destroy evidence for him..."

"AND???" 

"And that's about it!!! And yes, it's reprehensible and MAYBE he deserves to die for making two kids do his bidding but-"

"KANAYA STOP!" Vriska yells, making Kanaya flinch. "I-I'm sorry for yelling, but.. Kanaya...." Vriska lets go of Kanaya's shoulders, moving to hold her hands instead. "God... if you really don't remember it's like... I should just let you live with that, I guess, right?" Vriska laughs, her voice beginning to break as her eye waters. 

"What. What is it that you think I don't remember?" 

Vriska sniffles, "Kanaya he... oh god.. I don't even wanna talk about it but, fuck.. Kanaya he like, straight up sexually abused us." Kanaya reflexively squeezes Vriska's hand. She doesn't know what to think. It doesn't seem like Vriska's lying, and she doesn't think that she WOULD lie about something of that nature, but she truly can't remember what she could be talking about.

"You must have repressed it or some shit," Vriska says, her voice soft. 

"I don't... you must be.. embellishing the story or-or.." 

Vriska shakes her head, frowning sympathetically at Kanaya. "Look.." she sighs, "Let's... go back to the motel."

"Oh....kay....." Kanaya says slowly, not wanting to object to Vriska changing her mind on the whole murder thing, but also confused out of her mind, trying to scrape way back into the depths of her memory to try and find the memories she apparently repressed. Hazy memories of shredding piles and piles of papers together, of riding their bikes around to deliver "dry cleaning," of sitting silently in her bedroom together after getting home for the night, sharing the leftovers of the dinner her mother had made. Even those memories are fuzzy and hard to reach. Maybe there  _ is _ something missing. 

They get back to the motel, and Vriska carefully helps Kanaya back down from the truck. When they get into their room, Kanaya goes and sits on the edge of the bed, staring into the distance and idly chewing on her thumb as she tries to process everything that just happened, and everything she was just told. 


	4. Just a Scratch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter contains more brief and vague discussion of csa at the beginning  
> also, like, a murder happens so. yeah.

Vriska tries, as carefully as she can, to explain to Kanaya what happened to them when they were kids. It's painful for her to get through, and even more painful for her to watch Kanaya listen to the horrible things she went through that she doesn't even remember. As she talks, though, Kanaya does remember. Just a few flashes of the things that Vriska describes, but it's enough to send her into a panic attack. Vriska sits with her, letting her squeeze her hand as hard as she can, and trying to calm her down as much as she possibly can. She even ends up shedding a few tears herself.

"It's just so.. BAFFLING- how could I have- I mean it's so--so traumatic and- I just lost it all? I don't.. understand- I..." Kanaya rambles through her sobbing, laying next to Vriska who is gently stroking her hair. Vriska stays quiet, having no idea what to say. She just listens to everything Kanaya says, offering nods and little "mhmm"s here and there. 

An hour passes where they're both silent, Kanaya just staring at the ceiling and letting her mind tire itself out as Vriska watches her face to see if she can read any emotion that may cross her face. 

"And the little bits that I do remember, it's.. I think- I.. I mean, I GET IT now," Kanaya says suddenly with a dry laugh, "I mean I really get it." 

"What do you mean?" Vriska asks quietly.

"I mean, I understood YOU wanting to kill him before, but now..." her voice cracks, and she takes a moment to breathe, centering herself. "Now  _ I  _ want to kill him." 

Vriska sits up quickly, "Woah, seriously???" Kanaya lets out a wet laugh, wiping her teary face with the back of her hand. 

"Yeah. I mean. Yeah. I do," she decides. 

"Well this... wasn't part of my plan," Vriska says with a nervous chuckle. 

"You can still be the one to kill him," Kanaya clarifies, "But yeah. I am one-hundred percent on board with this. I will do everything in my power to make this happen," she says gravely. 

"Alright!!!" Vriska exclaims, "That's awesome!!! I- should we go, like.. right now?" 

"I don't see why not," Kanaya replies, "The night is still young." 

And so they get back into Vriska's truck, and drive back towards their old neighborhood. For most of the drive, they're both silent, until Vriska decides to check in.

"So... Are you like... okay?" she asks quietly.

Kanaya sighs. "I'm.. as okay as I can be, I suppose. I mean, I just found out that I've been repressing major trauma for most of my life, so I'm a little fucked up about it, but... It's going to be okay. Everything is about to be set straight," she says calmly. 

"Okay, cool..." Vriska says. It's quiet for a moment while she thinks of what else to say. "I'm..." she sighs heavily before continuing, "I think I owe you an apology. For... keeping this a secret up until the last minute?"

"Yeah, dragging me along to kill someone as a little surprise at the end of the day was definitely not what I was expecting from this trip," Kanaya deadpans.

"I know, I know," Vriska laughs nervously, "So.. I'm sorry. Maybe if I'd told you my plan beforehand... It wouldn't have been as stressful for you. Oh, and I'm sorry that I had to be the one to like, remind you of probably the worst thing that's ever happened to you?? That sucked."

Kanaya sighs, but she can't help but smile. "It's not your fault that I repressed it. Besides, we went through it together, it's only fair that we both remember. I think now that I know this... Now that I'm starting to remember it all... I understand you a lot better as a person. You were just coping in a vastly different way than I was." 

"Yeah..." Vriska says, barely above a whisper, having no idea how else to respond to that. "Can I.. say something kinda sappy?" she asks, her anxiety coming through in her tone. 

"Sure," Kanaya responds, her heart immediately speeding up.

"I'm just... really lucky to have you back. Like, the fact that we ended up in the same place at the same time after all these years? It's like... Like the universe decided that we needed each other again, if that makes any sense. I really missed you, fussyfangs."

"Of course you had to use 'fussyfangs' to counteract the genuine show of emotion," Kanaya teases, "But... Yeah. I missed you too. I think it is lucky that we get to be friends again. Like we're being given another chance."

"Yeah, exactly!!!" Vriska exclaims excitedly. "God, we're almost there..." she says, a little less enthusiastic. 

"Losing your nerve?" Kanaya asks, almost in a teasing manner. 

"No way! This is gonna be a piece of cake. In and out, nice and easy," she retorts. 

Vriska parks on the curb just before the entrance to the cul-de-sac. Kanaya's having so many different thoughts and feelings that it's almost hard to bear. She's overanalyzing what Vriska just said, about being glad to have her back, and at the same time she's agonizing over the crime that's about to be committed, while also having some mixed-up nostalgic-sick feelings over being back in the neighborhood she grew up in. It's an emotional maelstrom that practically has her frozen in her seat. 

"Do you wanna like.. walk around the neighborhood? To get a final look before I..." Vriska does a finger gun and imitates the sound of it going off with her mouth. 

"I think I'd rather just get out of here as quickly as possible. No need to linger," Kanaya decides. Vriska nods, then reaches over to the glove compartment to retrieve the firearm and the pair of gloves. "How are you going to get in?" Kanaya asks.

"Kick in the window," Vriska answers easily.

"Good luck," Kanaya whisper-yells as Vriska opens her door and hops out. She watches Vriska disappear around the corner, and takes a few deep breaths to try and calm herself down. It's going to be fine. He'll be asleep, she'll shoot him in the head, and then it'll all be over for good. 

For about five minutes, Kanaya sits quietly, telling herself that everything is going to be okay and that there's nothing to worry about, and that Vriska will be back in no time. She hears the gun go off. After the sound of the blast dissipates, it feels quieter than before. Five more minutes pass. Vriska hasn't returned. 

Kanaya waits for another few minutes, her stomach churning and her heart pounding out of her chest as she wonders what's going on. Another minute. She can't take it. She has to find out what's happening, and fast. 

She hops over to the driver's seat, and speeds up to Doc Scratch's house. It's the one at the very tip of the cul-de-sac, looking over all the other houses. Kanaya jumps out of the truck, stumbling a bit when she hits the pavement. She runs around to the side of the house where she remembers his bedroom to be, and finds the window Vriska broke. She peers through it to see an empty bed, its white sheets spattered with blood. The bedroom door is open and the hall light is on. She steps closer to the window. 

She can hear a conversation, but can't quite make out what is being said, only that it's loud and aggressive. Without another thought, Kanaya jumps through the window, scraping her leg of a shard of glass on the way in. She ignores the pain as she runs through the bedroom door, following a trail of blood out to the foyer, where she sees the silhouettes of Vriska and Doc Scratch. He's holding her by the wrists, trying to knock the gun from her hand, but her grip is unyielding. 

"And it would appear you brought your little friend," he says, clearly in tremendous pain. Hearing his voice is a shock, and Kanaya takes a step back. Vriska's head whips around to look at her, and in that moment she loses her focus, and the gun falls from her hand, sliding across the floor towards Kanaya. Scratch shoves Vriska away, and heads towards the gun. He trips on the rug and lets out a howl of pain before desperately crawling to retrieve the firearm. But Kanaya acts quicker, running up to the gun and snatching it up. 

She looks at Vriska, who is struggling to lift herself off the ground. She looks at Scratch, who is still crawling towards her. His white pajamas are soaked with his blood from where he was shot in the stomach. Kanaya is frozen. 

"KANAYA, SHOOT HIM!" Vriska screams from the floor, looking desperately at Kanaya from her hands and knees as she clutches her side. 

Doc Scratch lets out a pained laugh, "Kanaya Maryam. You  _ really _ think that  _ she _ would be able to-" BANG! 

She drops the gun. All is silent, except for the living pair's heavy breathing. Kanaya rushes over to Vriska, kneeling beside her on the floor. "What happened???? Are you hurt??" 

"I'm fine I'm fine I'm fine, he.. he was awake. When I came in. I can't-- I can't explain right now- fuck... We need to get out of here," Vriska says, taking wheezing breaths every few words, and groaning in pain. 

"Fuck," Kanaya echoes, rising to her feet and helping Vriska stand up. She holds her up as they make their way to the front door. The cold night air bites at Kanaya's face and hands as she struggles to get the door closed behind them. 

"Oh thank god," Vriska breathes, "I thought we were gonna have to walk all the way down the street." 

"Guess I had a little foresight," Kanaya responds, her voice breaking. She opens the passenger door and helps Vriska climb up into it, before limping around the driver's side. "Okay. We'll go back to the motel and I'll pick up a first-aid kit and see what I can do," Kanaya says quickly.

"I have a first-aid kit," Vriska says weakly, "But I'm okay... Just a cracked rib probably." 

Kanaya starts to drive. "Oh my god, I knew this was a stupid idea, I knew you would end up getting hurt. Fuck, this is all my fault, I should have stopped you I should have--"

"Kanaya shut up," Vriska says loudly, "It's not your fucking fault. You couldn't have stopped me. This one's all on me." They're both quiet for a moment while Kanaya navigates the streets, mostly through muscle memory. "You didn't get hurt, did you?" Vriska asks.

"No, I'm alright," she says, before remembering the scrape on her leg that probably needs stitches. "Well. I scraped my leg on the way in, but it's nothing serious." 

"Okay..." Vriska says, not entirely believing her, but not wanting to start an argument. 

Back inside their motel room, Vriska demands to have a look at Kanaya's scratch. "I've had quite a few injuries in my day, so I know a couple of things," she explains. Reluctantly, Kanaya carefully wriggles out of her jeans, exposing the wound on the outer side of her leg, just below the knee, that is caked with blood, dried blood trailing from the injury down to her ankle. 

"Fucking shit..." Vriska says, "'Nothing serious,' Kanaya??" Kanaya smiles guiltily. Vriska rolls her eye, and gets to cleaning up the wound. Kanaya tries to keep a straight face through the pain, but she can't help but wince a couple of times when Vriska touches the cut itself. Once cleaned and disinfected, Vriska wraps the leg with gauze, using a safety pin to hold the whole affair together since her first-aid kit is out of little gauze clasps. 

"Okay, it looked a lot scarier before it was clean, but I think it's gonna be fine. I'll go to the store tomorrow and get more gauze and stuff," Vriska explains. 

"What about you?" asks Kanaya, "Shouldn't you go to the hospital for your rib??" 

"Nah," Vriska says with a handwave of dismissal, "This isn't the first rib I've cracked. Just need to ice it and try and rest up to let it heal." 

"Aren't you in pain?"

"Immense pain," Vriska says with a smile, "But I'm a tough bitch, it's nothing I can't handle! Nothin' a BUNCH of Advil can't fix!" 

"Alright..." Kanaya concedes reluctantly. "So, I guess your plan of not leaving a trace didn't really work out..." 

Vriska sighs. "Yeah... I think it was maybe kind of stupid," she says. 

"Oh? Are you admitting you were wrong?" Kanaya asks, raising her eyebrows at this break of character. 

"Well I think it's pretty fucking obvious in this case," she says with an eyeroll, "I like, almost fucking died." 

"Is almost fucking dying the only way to get you to admit you were wrong about something?" Kanaya teases. 

"Hah, yeah," Vriska laughs, "That's only because I'm always right about everything else, ever," she says facetiously, earning a giggle from Kanaya. 

"So.. are you ready to tell me all of what happened back there?" she asks.

"Yeah..." Vriska takes a deep breath and gathers her thoughts. "So... When I broke the window, I guess that woke him up, and he starts to get up so I panic and shoot blindly and get him in the stomach. For a minute he's unable to move, and I jump inside and get, like, ready to shoot him again, because he's like groaning in pain and shit so he's not dead yet. But before I can shoot him again, that motherfucker... Apparently he sleeps with a fucking crowbar! So he hits me in the side with it and I'm on the ground. He starts doing some stupid monologue that was like, honestly he must have been WAITING for this moment, it was as if it was fucking rehearsed or something. It was so fucking long and annoying I literally don't remember a single word of it. Mostly cause I was in pain, but also because it was boring as hell. I pull myself up and as I raise the gun again, he grabs my wrists, and I start trying to like, get the fuck away from him and we back out into the hall over to.. where you saw us. And you know what happened after that," she finishes with a dry laugh. 

"Thank fucking god you came in when you did," continues Vriska, "You, like.. literally saved my fucking life," she says, only just coming to this realization. "You were like a fuckin' deux ex machina but real!" she laughs. But Kanaya is too full of worry to be able to appreciate the irony of the situation. 

"Vriska... They're going to find us... For fuck's sake, I left the murder weapon at the scene of the crime!" she agonizes. Vriska sighs, biting her lip.

"Yeah I... I don't know what to tell you there. We could go back, but there could already be cops on the scene, I mean the gunshot probably woke somebody up..."

"Fucking hell," Kanaya cries, putting her face in her hands, "What do we even do, then? We-we- we can't plead innocent!" 

Vriska shrugs, "I dunno. I'm trying to think a few steps ahead... We could leave now, but that would make our timeline here match up a little too perfectly, I think. We could spend the night and leave in the morning, but that could ALSO be too close, but if we wait TOO long, that could be even more of a problem."

"Yeah, I'm all for getting the fuck out of here as soon as possible?" Kanaya says frantically. 

"Yeah, maybe that's the best way to go," Vriska nods, "I'll pack up our stuff."

"No, no, don't strain yourself any more, I'll get everything packed," Kanaya insists. 

"Kanaya, I'm fine, I-"

"No, shut up, I'm not letting you hurt yourself even more, you imbecile," she says more forcefully. 

Vriska raises her eyebrows, "Wow. Okay." 

Kanaya gets all of their belongings back into Vriska's truck, and once everything's all secure, Vriska goes and checks them out of the motel. Kanaya starts to worry about how maybe Vriska is right about the "timeline matching up too perfectly" thing, but she tries to shove it down so she can focus on getting them out of here. 

She drives for a few hours before she's literally nodding off at the wheel. It turns out murdering someone takes a lot out of you. Vriska offers to drive, but Kanaya refuses, and instead she pulls off to take a nap in a Target parking lot. 

Thirty minutes later, they're back on the road. Neither of them talk much; they only break the silence to discuss what music to put on next. When the sun comes up, they grab some fast food breakfast and continue on. Kanaya automatically drives to her own apartment, not fully registering that she hasn't actually asked Vriska if she wants to stay with her, but Vriska makes no comment as she gets out and follows Kanaya to her door. Kanaya hauls all their stuff inside, not wanting Vriska to strain herself at all. 

They change into their pajamas in Kanaya's bedroom, and then they both get into her bed together. Kanaya has so much on her mind that she desperately wants to talk to Vriska about, but Vriska falls asleep just about as soon as her head hits the pillow, and Kanaya is left alone with her thoughts. 

She stares at the ceiling, utterly exhausted, yet unable to sleep. Everything that happened last night keeps flashing in her mind, and she can't make it stop. She lies awake for hours until pure exhaustion finally sweeps her into unconsciousness. 

Vriska is still fast asleep when Kanaya wakes up in the morning. Trying desperately not to think about last night, Kanaya traipses to the kitchen and makes herself some quick butter toast, just to have something in her stomach. She starts a pot of coffee as well, enough for both of them.

"Hey," Vriska says from the doorway, startling Kanaya, "The coffee smell woke me up," she says tiredly. 

"Ah. Yeah, help yourself," Kanaya replies. 

"Cool." Kanaya points to where the mugs are kept, and Vriska pours herself a cup. She leans against the kitchen counter as she takes small sips of it. 

"So what's our plan?" Kanaya asks, as casually as she can, not wanting to make it seem like she's trying to start an argument. She wants to try and remain calm as much as possible. 

Vriska merely shrugs. "I dunno. We go about life as normal. Wait and see what happens. For all we know, the body hasn't even been discovered yet." 

"You say that as if you've been in this situation before."

"No, this is my first murder," Vriska says with a smile, "But I've gotten away with enough lesser crimes that I'm just not so worried right now, I guess." 

"Well, that's great for you, but I'm a little on edge," Kanaya gripes. Vriska sighs. 

"I know, I know.. I honestly don't know what to tell you, though, like.. Everything is up in the air, ANYTHING could happen at this point. Like, we could totally have gotten off scott-fucking-free. Maybe the person who finds him will just be like 'yeah we all hated that guy,' and won't say anything, yaknow?" 

"That sounds highly improbable. But I'll try and pretend that's what'll happen for now so I'm not constantly freaking out, I guess."

"Yeah, exactly, that's really the mindset you gotta have with stuff like this. You're learnin' real fast, Maryam." Vriska nudges Kanaya's shoulder with her coffee cup before taking another sip. 

"Awesome," Kanaya deadpans. 

As the two sip on their coffees, Kanaya starts to think about  _ what happens next? _ Vriska's going to go back home. They'll both have to go back to their jobs. Just continue on with their lives as if nothing happened. Will they keep in touch? Will they remain close friends? Surely, someone you murder alongside is someone you've now bonded with for life, but Kanaya irrationally worries that Vriska is about to drift right out of her life again. 

"Hey..." Kanaya says to get the other girl's attention, "Do you think..." she sighs, and stops for a second to re-order her sentence in her head before saying it. "Do you think that.. it would be possible for you to stay with me?" she asks.

"Stay with you?" Vriska asks with an air of innocence. 

Kanaya sighs with embarrassment. "I.. am suddenly very opposed to the idea of being all alone in my empty apartment," she admits, "I'm just wondering if you'd enjoy... staying here for a few days? I don't know. It's... silly--I just...."

"No, yeah, yeah! Yeah, I can totally stay with you!" Vriska says softly. "Of course.. I'm the one who put you through all of this, I should like, make sure you're okay and stuff..." she smiles. 

"Okay, cool. Thank you," Kanaya says with a stiff nod. Vriska smiles at her, then looks into her coffee cup. She stares into the mug for a few seconds, and Kanaya begins to wonder if there's something in her drink or something, until she speaks.

"About.. the whole.. uh... kiss?" she says slowly, "I mean--we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, like we can totally just pretend it never happened or whatever, but like I didn't think it should go, like, completely ignored and stuff," Vriska's words stumble out of her so quickly that Kanaya almost can't keep up with them. She doesn't know what to say; she opts to just look at Vriska expectantly, signaling to her that she can continue. 

Vriska exhales shakily then says, "I uh.. Feel kind of really stupid about that," she begins, "I just thought it might be my last chance? Yeah.. Pretty... dumb... But like, when we started hanging out again and really just like, got back into the groove of our conversations, I was just feeling... so much.. I mean--for you--like.. Uh..." Kanaya smiles and conceals a laugh as she watches Vriska mumble and stutter through her words. "Yeah, so... I guess the feelings I had for you when we were teens kinda... Came back. Because... I remembered.. how much I liked you..." 

She glances up at Kanaya to see her smiling widely, her expression soft and adoring. Kanaya struggles with a response for a moment, fighting with herself on getting her true feelings out there. She's generally not a very emotionally open person, and even now, when she knows there is reciprocation, she still has trouble admitting how she feels. 

Finally, she says, "The same happened to me," she says, "Seeing you again, and seeing how you've grown and changed since the last time I saw you.. It made all the feelings I had for you back then that I had pushed down come rushing to the surface." 

"Soooooooo... what you're saying is... you have a crush on me?" Vriska grins. Kanaya rolls her eyes and chuckles.

"I guess that's certainly a way to put it if you are so inclined," she replies. 

"So is it cool if I kiss you again?" Vriska asks giddily. 

"Yes," Kanaya replies with bemused laughter, before Vriska sets her coffee on the counter and steps towards her. She caresses her cheek and gazes into her eyes, then kisses her. Kanaya's arms wrap around her waist as she quickly deepens the kiss, finally getting what she's been yearning for since middle school--or maybe even before that. 

Vriska's lips are heavily chapped, but it doesn't matter to Kanaya. They're still so plush, and Vriska kisses her so gently, as if she's nervous, or worried about overstepping. But she's not. She never will. Kanaya wants everything Vriska is willing to give her. 

They break apart, and Vriska carefully brushes back a strand of hair that had fallen into Kanaya's face. "I love you," she whispers. Kanaya's heart soars. 

She can't contain her giggling as she says, "I love you, too," right back. 

"Hey, what's so funny?" 

"Nothing, it's not funny, it's just... Crazy! That you would say those words to me. That I would say them back to you," Kanaya explains through her uncontrollable fits of giggles. "I'm just a little giddy, that's all." 

"Fuck, that's adorable," Vriska says, before kissing her again, though she's mostly kissing her teeth, as Kanaya can't stop herself from grinning in time to reciprocate right away. But she soon finds the control to relax her smile, and gets lost in Vriska's lips once more. 


End file.
